The U.S. Mail is Not for Sale!
June 14, 2016
Approximately 50 Stop Staples protesters greeted shareholders outside the company’s annual meeting in Natick, MA, on June 14, waving banners and chanting, “The U.S. mail is not for sale!”
The protest was organized to keep pressure on Staples’ Board of Directors to end the deal with the Postal Service that established faux postal counters inside the company’s stores.
“I believe there is an opportunity now to get Staples out of the postal business,” said Northeast Region Coordinator John Dirzius after the protest. “The two principals that negotiated the deal are now gone – former Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and former Staples CEO Ron Sargent,” he pointed out. Sargent stepped down as CEO following the failure of Staples’ merger with Office Depot, which the union opposed.
Members of the Greater Boston Labor Council, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, Carpenters Union, Teamsters Union and Jobs with Justice, joined APWU members from the Boston Metro Area Local, South Shore (MA) Area Local, New York Metro Area Postal Union and Manchester (NH) Area Local at the event.